manly paddlers
manly paddlers
bennett "epic paddle" series
peter lavac, 900kms from hong kong to the philippines in 117 hours, written by bill beale 05/2003
(this part two on a series on ultra-long distance ocean paddling)
in july 1990, a six-man relay team, involving team-leader and manly lsc member peter lavac, completed a 900k paddle from hong kong to the philippines in 117 hours. apart from setting a goal to establish a world record for the longest ocean crossing, the epic venture was to raise money for hong kong orphans via the hong kong society for the protection of children.
peter was then 42 years of age. he was a crown prosecutor in hong kong and later went into private practice there as a criminal barrister. his partners in the crossing were four renowned australian marathon paddlers and a south african champion.
in completing the crossing, they took turns at a one hour paddle in the one single ski, and four hours of rest.
their support vessel was the van star, a 35-meter yacht owned by shipping tycoon, david lieu. it was decked out with a spotlight to guide them at night, and heavy-calibre machine guns for protection against pirates who were endemic in the south china sea.
peter lavac has always been somewhat of an adventurer. yet he was a skinny and frail youngster who had rheumatic fever and asthma as a child - a serious combination of ailments which his doctors said could be fatal if he exerted himself.
at 15, peter ignored medical advice, started weight training, and turned his life around. the rest is history. he worked as a life guard on sydney's northern beaches to put himself through law school. that's when he got the bug for marathon ski paddling.
he competed in the world's longest ski race, the foster to sydney pye surf ski challenge. he also became a wrestling champion, male model, movie stunt man, and bodybuilder. he explored the amazon in an indian dug-out canoe.
on completing his degree, he was enticed to become a crown prosecutor in hong kong by manly lsc member bruce smith, who was working there in that role. (bruce independently recounted how he had been on a support vessel in an annual round hong kong island yacht race - a distance of 50 kilometres. peter and south african tony allison had entered as well, on surf skis, as a challenged to the yachts to raise money for charity. unfortunately a monsoonal storm blew up. there was havoc. many yachts capsized and sunk and crews were rescued by helicopter. in spite of the conditions, the two paddlers beat most of the yachts around the island and raised thousands of dollars for the orphans of hong kong.
after becoming settled in hong kong peter organised the 72 kilometre hong kong to macau ocean ski race, and later the philippines crossing in 1990. in 1992 he organised a unicef orphan charity motorcycle trip across asia on a harley davidson with his girlfriend sharow kwok - a beautiful movie star and playboy centrefold. unfortunately this trip was cancelled when dr john d'arcy of channel 7, who was to film a tv documentary of the journey, fell from a tree, fractured his skull, and lapsed into a coma. fortunately, john recovered, but the opportunity was lost.
in 2002 he won gold and bronze medals in his age category at the world life saving championships at daytona beach, florida, usa.
returning to the philippines crossing, his team members were south african tony allison, 37, mentioned above, who was an ultra-marathon runner and canoeist. he had completed the 140k duzi canoe marathon in sa and several 160k iron man triathlons. tony, peter, and six hong kong police olympians pioneered the hong kong to macau charity surf-ski race, with tony winning the 72k race in 11 hours.
others in the hong kong to philippines team were australian murray braund, 41, who held five world paddling titles, along with five nsw surf live saving single and double titles, plus two national titles.
quentin riley, 41, was a former beach sprint champion and marathon surf ski and kayak paddler. in 1986 he won the 110k hawkesbury river marathon.
richard brierty, 26, had won gold in the 1988 nsw surf live saving ski relay, gold in the 1989 double-ski, and came second in the national ski doubles in 1990. he has also played representative rugby league.
bill prestage, 39, came second at his first attempt in the 1984 pye surf ski challenge from foster to sydney and then won it in 1986.
the team set out from the aberdeen boat club, hong kong, on 4 july 1990, after typhoon percy blew itself out - july being a notorious time of year for typhoons. they hoped to get a clear run between storms. a typhoon threatened but remained off the east coast of the philippines.
nevertheless, they had to withstand strong winds, high seas, and heavy rain for the first two days. team member quentin riley succumbed to seas sickness while paddling in a storm but kept going only to collapse later from heat exhaustion. team-mates had to revive him each time it was his turn to paddle. thereafter, the heat and an intense sun became the problem.
murray braund suffered severe pain in his shoulder muscles but paddled on.
despite bouts of seasickness, heat exhaustion, and jellyfish stings, each paddler fulfilled their rotating one-hour shift. at night the paddlers were bruised by 2kg flying-fish that crashed into them because they were blinded by the spotlight operated from the van star.
peter said the main problem, however, was lack of sleep. "it was difficult to sleep for more than two hours at a stretch over the five days. all we could do was lie down and close our eyes and even then it was impossible to sleep because we'd be psyching ourselves up for our next shift."
five tiger sharks were sighted during the crossing. one became a little too curious, and when it got too close to paddler bill prestage, it was 'dispatched' with a burst from the m15 machine gun of captain danny leung.
peter described richard brierty as the powerhouse of the team. "he maintained an average speed of 6.2 knot, and at times reached 8 knots."
they arrived at san fernando, which is about 230k north of manila, at 2am in the morning on the 4th day. they missed the official welcoming party and, as quentin riley said, "we were greeted by two local dogs on the muddy beach." peter lavac paddled the last leg and kissed the ground in triumphant jubilation after collapsing to his knees from exhaustion. they were eventually welcomed by the governor of the philippine province of la union in his palace.
to train for the event, peter put in two hours per day, five days per week. of interest, he worked alternate days, one hour on weights and one hour on the ski. in the gym, he drew on his bodybuilding prowess to pump out 315lb repetition bench presses. at weekends he'd do four-hour paddling sessions.
you can see from the photograph above that, because of the weight training, peter was quite pumped at the start of the journey. however, he lost ten pounds by the end of the crossing.
after the event, peter said "enough was enough," and vowed he wouldn't paddle a surf ski "for at least another five years." but he took up the cause again, twelve years later, in memory of the death of a friend who died of cancer.
the friend was dr brian horan, head of anaesthetics at st vincents hospital. brian said, "go for it. look at me. we're the same age and i'm dying. you owe it to yourself to use your health, your strength and your fitness while you still have them."
brian's sentiments provided the inspiration for peter to return to the ski after the twelve-year hiatus. he took out the gold and bronze in his age category at daytona in the world life saving championships rescue 2002. unfortunately, peter injured his back in daytona and is now 'beached' for the time being. he's working on it, though, and has said he'll be down for the time trial once his back recovers.
channel 7 filmed a television documentary of the hong kong to philippines paddle and clive robinson did a radio interview.
"we raised thousands of dollars in the three events, 1986, 1988, 1990, with all money going to hong kong orphans." major sponsors were qantas, australian guaranteed corporation, fosters, reebok and macau casino magnate, stanley ho.
while peter and his friends have achieved some remarkable feats, for mine the most remarkable was that peter was able to 'con' his accomplices to join him for the philippines crossing. what great persuasive powers: i'd like to see him summing up before a jury!.
if you would like to nominate a person to be featured in the bennett "epic paddle" series then please send their particulars to us at info@manlypaddlers.com.
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